This invention relates generally to drainage systems, and more particularly to wall patches for covering cracks occurring in concrete basement foundation walls. Keeping the basements of buildings dry is a recurring problem. Cracks develop in basement walls allowing water to leak into the basement and collect on the surface of basement floors.
Many efforts have been made to solve the problem. The usual approach to repair or attempts at prevention is to plug the holes from the outside of the foundation wall. Theoretically, this can be possible, but ordinarily it is not likely to be successful. It is very difficult to find all the holes or cracks, and even when located, it was difficult in the past to make a successful patch or plug. Further, to make repairs exteriorly of a wall, after a building has been in use for a period of time, is a relatively expensive process, and often will require ripping out landscaping, including bushes and trees, and even stone or concrete slabs that have been located adjacent the wall. Expensive equipment must also be brought to the site.
Examples of exterior wall drainage systems are represented in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,852,925 granted to J. F. Gazzo on Dec. 10, 1974; 4,309,855 granted to H. T. Pate et al on Jan. 12, 1982; 4,574,541 granted to H. P. Raidt et al on Mar. 11, 1986 and 5,035,095 granted to J. Bevilacqua on Jul. 30, 1991. Attempts to repair water drainage problems from the basement interior have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,850,193 granted to R. F. Guzzo on Nov. 26, 1974 and 4,757,651 granted to M. K. Crites on Jul. 19, 1988.
The disclosures of each of the prior art patents listed above entail relatively difficult and expensive procedures, let alone messy, and often complex, trenching procedures involved in removal of interfering trees, shrubs and other obstructions, in order to perform maintenance repairs to exterior foundation; wall surfaces of existing buildings. Prior efforts internally of the foundation wall required complex and relatively expensive and time-consuming techniques and relatively complex patching components.